Comparative Study of Antimalarial Effect of Sambiloto (Andrographis paniculata) Extract, Chloroquine and Artemisinin and Their Combination Against Plasmodium falciparum In-vitro

ABSRACT: to compare the
anti-malarial effect among sambiloto extract, chloroquine and artemisinin-only
as well as those of their combination. Methods: the study was conducted in
Central Biomedical Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Brawijaya University,
Malang, Indonesia from January to February 2006. Malaria culture used Plasmodium
falciparum of Papua strain (2300) that was obtained from Namru-2 Jakarta. Five
drugs applied in this test; those were chloroquine, artemisinin, the extract of
sambiloto, the combination of sambiloto and chloroquine, and the combination of
sambiloto and artemisinin. Parasite density was determined by counting the
number of Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocyte in 5,000 erythrocytes of
the culture. Single drug (Chloroquine-only or artemisinin only) and either
combination with sambiloto at dose 0.5 ug/ml had killingeffect against the
parasite, measured by the appearance of "crisis form" on the infected
erythrocytes. This killing-effect was dose dependent, and reached its optimum
effect of 200 ug/ml. Results: treatment of single sambiloto extract with dose
0.5 ug/ml increased the density of the parasite, however after every 1ug
increasing dose of sambiloto extract, the killing effect also increased. The
reduction of the parasite density was also seen by increasing the Sambiloto
dose in the group of combination of sambiloto-chloroquine as well as the group of
combination of sambiloto and artemisinin. Statistically, there was no
difference in the anti-malaria effcacy among of fve test drugs (p=1.00). The
correlation between the reduction of the parasite with the increasing ofdose in
all groups is statistically signifcance (p=0.001). Conclusion: the extract of
sambiloto in a single dose or in a combination evidently has the effect of
anti-falciparum malaria.